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MP Roberts ‘could face a motion of expulsion’ claim

30 May 2021 2 minute read
Rob Roberts. Picture by David Woolfall (CC BY 3.0).

A Welsh MP who faces calls for him to resign over sexual harrassment claims could face a motion of expulsion, it’s reported.

Mail on Sunday deputy political editor and columnist Anna Mikhailova today tweeted: “Talks between Commons Leader and shadow Leader increasingly focus on tabling a Motion of Expulsion.”

She added that it would be the first time this mechanism has been used to kick out an MP since 1954.

The Leader of the House is Jacob Rees-Mogg and the shadow Leader is Labour’s Thangam Debbonaire.

Delyn Conservative MP Roberts, 41, has been suspended for six weeks by the newly-formed independent panel thate handles sexual misconduct allegations.

The MP was suspended  for sexual misconduct after a motion was passed without a vote.

It backed the recommendation of the Independent Expert Panel, which found that Rob Roberts, who represents Delyn, had breach Parliament’s sexual misconduct policy.

 

The panel upheld complaints about his “repeated and unwanted” sexual advances.

The Leader of the House of Commons earlier told Roberts, who has lost the Conservative Whip, that he should resign.

As the suspension was recommended by the Independent Expert Panel, which is not a committee of the House, the Recall of MPs Act 2015 is not triggered.

This means there won’t be a by-election in the seat unless Roberts resigns.

Suspensions of more than 10 days usually trigger a recall petition and potentially a by-election if it is signed by enough voters in the constituency.

However, the panel that looked at the Roberts case was set up only last year, and the legislation covering recall rules was not amended to cover it.

UK Government to introduce emergency legislation to close a loophole that is preventing a by-election in the seat.

However, the Leader of the House said he prefers a non legislative solution, but says he’s asked the chair of the Independent Expert Panel to help find a way forward.

He told the House the publicity around the matter could have an impact on the willingness of future complaints to come forward, and acknowledged there have been concerns about the “discrepancy” between recall rules and complaints process.

 


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Quornby
Quornby
2 years ago

Repeated and unwanted…….. Yuk.

Mike Langdon
Mike Langdon
2 years ago
Reply to  Quornby

Hi Rob, time to fall on your sword

Mandi A
Mandi A
2 years ago

So the Independent Expert Panel was established by the HoC but is not a Committee of the HoC, hence no recall. Sounds like semantics to me. Oh look, there on the horizon, a knight on a white charger, Sir Jacob of Rees-Mogg coming to re-establish morals in Welsh Toryism.

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